lasirenadolce and myself worked with matchitforpratchett.org to do matching fund raising at Norwescon 31. This was in coordination with Pat Cadigan's campaign to match Terry Pratchett's US$1MM donaton to Alzheimer's research.In the ten days since that challenge, nearly $100,000 has been donated online globally in honor of Terry. Norwescon, Eastercon/Orbital and ICFA were the first conventions that were able to attempt fundraising. Eastercon reportedly raised about $4,000, ICFA raised $1,054 (thanks
fjm for the info), while Norwescon members, vendors and pros donated a total of $3,403.70.People gave what they could - whether it was $1 or $100. A few people emptied all of the change in their pocket every time the walked by the donation box. Many gave multiple times. BASFA heard that we were doing a campaign and sent money up from San Francisco. One vendor gave a percentage of all of their sales from the weekend to the cause. Another vendor gave all of her profits from Terry Pratchett books.
I believe
lasirenadolce will be posting some practical tips about the experience, which may be of use to folks considering a similar effort at other conventions. Meanwhile, a few photos of the fundraising...
Photos © 2008 Adrienne Loska. Please contact for permission to reproduce.
As usual, more at the Flickr set